The mistake happened after a news channel's Twitter handle wrote Shashi Tharoor instead of Shashi Kapoor, who was 79.

But the politician has "no problem" as "mistakes happen. Glad to be able to crack a smile at a tragic moment".

I feel a part of me is gone. A great actor, smart, cosmopolitan, impossibly handsome & w/a name that was often confused w/mine. (My office got two calls from journalists today about my reportedly serious ill-health!) I will miss #ShashiKapoor. Condolences2his family&all his fans pic.twitter.com/fSz3jafPZJ

Mr Tharoor even paid tribute to the youngest son of late Prithviraj Kapoor and brother of late Raj Kapoor and Shammi Kapoor.

"I feel a part of me is gone. A great actor, smart, cosmopolitan, impossibly handsome and w/a name that was often confused w/mine. (My office got two calls from journalists today about my reportedly serious ill-health!) I will miss Shashi Kapoor. Condolences to his family and all his fans," he tweeted.

In Thiruvananthapuram, a close aide of Mr Tharoor told IANS that the MP's office in Delhi, since Monday evening, had been getting a flurry of telephone calls from several people, including journalists, who were all in hushed voices asking about Mr Tharoor.

The aide said initially all of them were indeed perplexed on how a common cold and cough that Mr Tharoor had since arriving in New Delhi on Sunday night could lead to so many calls.

"Later, we understood when it surfaced there was a goof up committed by a TV channel who got it wrong after Bollywood actor Shashi Kapoor passed away," said the aide.

Mr Tharoor, who was in the Kerala capital, had caught a bad cold and cough.